Wednesday, May 26, 2010

"On packing: Lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then, take half the clothes and twice the money."-- Susan Butler Anderson

If only this were as easy as it sounds. This is my last week at home, and my suitcase remains empty. What's so hard about picking essential items and tossing them into a suitcase? EVERYTHING. I have been laying out clothes for the past week, trying to decide on what to take and what to leave. Not only that but the 50 lb. weight limit is a dark cloud waiting to rain on my parade.

I did some banking today. Figuring out the finances for this internship has been rather difficult; banks have become rather stingy. For example, at one of the banks I have an account with a 3% fee is incurred when making an international transaction. Holy guacamole that adds up!

Despite all of the stress, everything is falling into place. I have a couple of things left to get together, but other than that I'm ready to halve my clothes and double my money.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Greetings! My name is Emily. I have just completed my freshman year at the University of Michigan. No, I don't have a major, but yes, I have ideas as to what I would like it to be. I am currently hooked on linguistics.

While at school this year, I decided it was time to "live a little". I applied for an internship abroad. About a month and a half ago I received news that I will be interning at Girisim Factoring in Istanbul, Turkey between June 7 and August 15. Wowsers. 2 weeks till my departure date. Again, wowsers.

I decided to write a blog not only to document my time abroad but to reflect upon my personal growth while experiencing a new culture. I plan on writing about work, traveling, and my reactions from life abroad. I also plan on posting pictures to accompany entries.

Even though I am writing the blog, I would really enjoy it if you participated as well :). I accept comments! Yipee! I have set-up guidelines so things will run as smoothly as possible.

THE GUIDELINES:
1. Comments are a definite yes
2. Grammatical feedback is a definite no-no. I know that I am not the best speler.
3. I LOVE questions. Feel free to ask any questions you may have about anything you read (if something is confusing because of grammatical errors, I will do my best to clarify - this is the ONLY exception to #2!).